The Marks of Fate
by Honest Lunar Raven
Summary: AU. Born to a Hyūga father and Uzumaki mother, Naruto inherits both the Byakugan and the Uzumaki bloodlines. Marked twice by Fate and completely incapable of using the Juken; Naruto will spit in the faces of both tradition and Fate to become the Legend he knows he can be! Byakugan!Naruto Bloodline!Naruto Archer!Naruto Uzumaki!Naruto. Fuinjutsu!Naruto NaruHina No Harem. No Bashing.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Realized I should put this up here just incase. I do not own Naruto, and be glad I don't. If I did, I would read your fanfics, and I would complain about them and actually have the authority on the subject.

**Prologue: The Marks of Fate**

Heroes...

Legends…

Gods among men…

The bastions of Humanity whose stories are told in taverns across the land, retold to children in the dead of night to inspire and show to them that Good always triumphs; and eventually, ascend beyond the limits of mortality and into the realm of myth…

The Sandaime Raikage whom could fight a fully realized Biiju to a draw…

The legendary Hokage, both past and present, all of whom shaped the destiny of the world in some manner…

Madara Uchiha, a man become monster in his own right…

And indisputably the greatest of them all, the unfathomably powerful Sage of the Six Paths, who literally molded the world, and made his dreams the reality of all…

In another time; with different circumstances of birth, another might have one day ascended and become a legend to match, and perhaps surpass them all. They might have overcome insurmountable odds, defeated Fate, spit in the face of an angry god and survived, defeated Hate, and might even have saved the world as we know it. 'The Chosen One', they would eventually come to call them, and they might have once and for all truly broken the Curse of Hatred, bringing about a new age of peace and prosperity.

This is not that story. For that world to come about, the 'Chosen One' would need the Protection of a God, the Guidance of a Sage, and the Love of an angel. In this world that chosen soul possesses only the last of these, and even that Love is ultimately tainted by this darker world…

The loss of these requirements comes about not due to a moment of weakness, hatred, malice, fear, or even indifference. No, it comes about, unexpectedly, as a result of love, trust, and a belief in the strength of family.

Through a series of circumstances that took place long before the 'chosen one' was born, instead of ultimately being born the child of the legendary Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, and resulting in the 'chosen one' being an orphan; this world's 'chosen one' was the son of one Hajime Hyūga and Uzumaki Kushina.

Instead of being left an orphan with no living relatives, this 'chosen one' was left with a living clan, and blatantly obvious ties to said clan in the form of their coveted doujutsu. This significant change of parentage rewrote the fate of the world. Instead of having the Sannin Jaraiya and Tsunade for god parents, this 'chosen one' instead had Hizashi and Hayami Hyūga. Thus is lost the Guidance of the Sage.

In a different world, where the 'chosen one' was truly the last of his family, the Sandaime Hokage would have cause to carefully watch the child and for all intents and purposes adopt them in as his own grandchild. In this world however, the 'chosen one' has a family to protect them. Not just any family either, the powerful and political nightmare that is the Hyūga clan. In this world, the great Sandaime does not need to be nearly as protective of a 'chosen one' who has living family to protect them, and so treats them relatively as any other Konohan child; worth dying to protect, but not an active focus. Thus is lost the Protection of a God.

The Angel cries softly, her sobs will not be a solitary thing in this world though, filled with a pain and misery that will be echoed by the 'chosen one' as her world crumbles around her and descends into darkness.

None of what could have been or what is to be could possibly be known to the mother aside the crib, singing songs and telling tales of wondrous Heroes to her beloved daughter in an attempt to stifle the cries of her daughter, all the while using every last ounce of her Ki to protect her fragile child from the death by heart failure that was an absolute certainty should she slip for even a moment.

This scene was mirrored all over the great village of Konoha, some succeeding, and some failing and paying the toll to the furous, demonic KI that fully enveloped them all.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune was Free of its prison, and Fate's wheels had begun to turn for this new world.

* * *

Chapter End.

* * *

AN: This is the brainchild of my desire to read a good Byakugan!Naruto fic and my desire to read an Archer!Naruto fic. I recently heard the saying: If you want to read a story that doesn't exist, write it! So I am going to try to do so. I don't want to say too much more, but the general idea of those two together just makes me grin maniacally.

I really think the Byakugan is both horridly misused in canon, and horrendously underestimated and generally written off as the weakest Doujutsu. I hope to really show how I think it should be used in this story, and why I think it could possibly trump both the Sharingan and Rinnegan if used appropriately.

After this prologue, chapters will get much longer and will not be anything like this was in format. I was going to actually start writing the story, but it just didn't feel right to not separate the prologue and first 'real' chapter as it disrupted the flow.

Tell me if you like the idea, hate my writing style, or what have you. I'm not writing this for reviews, so I don't really care too much, but they will help me solidify my writing style, and thus result in better chapters.

I would like to note: I am extremely detail orientated, so I may describe too much for readers who enjoy fast paced chapters. I am also NOT going to skip almost any of Naruto's childhood. It is different enough that I can be free to take it wherever I want without having to make the assumptions that many fics do, or have to have it go in the "Oh everyone hates Naruto and beats him nearly to death on his birthday" route that is ever so popular.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Realized I should put this up here just incase. I do not own Naruto, and be glad I don't. If I did, I would read your fanfics, and I would complain about them and actually have the authority on the subject.

**Chapter 1: Take the Stage... Minato?!**

Time…

The Minato Namikaze of even the day before would have complained ceaselessly to his mentor about how little time he seemed to have for himself since he took up the position of Hokage. This would of course amuse said mentor greatly and cause him to loudly expound on how wonderful his freedom was and brag about how much newfound spare time he had now that he didn't have to teach such a lazy apprentice anymore that he could spend searching for his "Inspiration". That Minato would glare half-heartedly and follow up with a comment on how nice it was to be Hokage, and therefore have the right to discontinue the travel visas of any perverted old toads that annoy him. They would then have both started laughing uproariously, confusing any who didn't understand their relationship.

The Minato Namikaze of Today would love to pummel that blissful idiot into oblivion. That fool had No Idea what it felt like to have the guillotine speeding down upon all he cherished… and to think his day had started so well. Jaraiya hadn't reported a single plot to destroy the leaf, there hadn't been a single assassination attempt before noon (a new personal record!), and he had even finished all of his duties as Hokage early today!

He had actually been in the middle of his first massage in months when everything went straight to hell. The killing intent that washed over him was unreal, and initially he had thought that he was in the middle of an assassination attempt being carried out by multiple S-rank nin. Once his ANBU had reported the source of the KI though, he was wishing that had indeed been the case.

His ninja had informed him that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was headed towards the village and that it was in fact over twenty miles away. For them to be feeling the monstrosity's KI this strongly at such a distance… Things were not so idyllic anymore.

He did not remain stunned for more than half a second though. His ninja needed their Kage, and he would willingly slit his wrists before he let them down when they needed him most.

He rushed towards the war council chambers, ordering his ANBU to go escort the elder members of said council to the location. He needn't have bothered, as the entirety of the war council was already assembled when he entered the chamber, all faces grim.

Shikaku Nara stood and spoke for the council, "Hokage-sama, what are your first response orders?" They hadn't even asked what was going on, how it had happened, or why; merely what his orders were. Even in this dire situation, his ninja kept a level head, refused to waste any time, and did not act out of the chain of command. Minato couldn't help but grin slightly at their professionalism. His face immediately returned to that of the _Kiiroi Senko_, one of the most feared men in the world as he gave his orders to his soldiers.

"Have the ANBU instant response team tear up the land between us and it; create as many obstacles in its way as possible. We need to slow it down enough to get our forces organized enough to combat the threat without suffering debilitating losses." His ANBU instantly rushed off to their assignment, completely undaunted by their almost assured deaths.

He looked around the council chambers and not seeing who he was looking for, immediately assumed the worst. "As I do not see Uzumaki-san, am I to assume that she is either a traitor or dead?" Knowing what he did, as loyal as Kushina was, if she had discovered some of what he knew as Hokage, he could not rule out treason.

Hyūga Hideyo, the Hyūga head stood up and addressed the council, "She is dead, as far as we know." He then did the unthinkable, and bowed to the floor in front of the whole council, shocking all those in attendance. A Hyūga did Not bow. "I humbly apologize to this council and my Kage. Once this threat has passed, I will take whatever punishment is deemed appropriate for our decision, as clearly it was the wrong one."

Minato's eyes narrowed in suspicion icily and shortly said, "Explain, quickly. We do not have time for this."

The Hyūga head quickly stood and did as ordered. "A year and a month ago, Uzumaki Kushina was married to Hyūga Hiromasa, as this council well knows. What is not known is that nine months ago, Hyūga Kushina became with child." Minato's eyes widened a bit, he knew what could potentially happen to a Jinchuuriki's seal during high stress moments such as giving birth.

The Hyūga noticed the Kage's reaction and knew he understood the severity of their secret. He quickly explained their decision, "From Kushina's explanations, we knew that this could potentially happen. We knew that if a sealing adept who knew how to destabilize the seal attacked in her moment of weakness that this could occur. We considered alerting the council, or at the very least Hokage-sama of the situation. However ultimately, we decided to not risk any of the spies we all know are here catching even a hint of the situation. We decided to act as normal, and to keep the fact of her pregnancy a complete secret to all. The plan was to have Kushina-sama, her husband, and a regiment of our best warriors and trackers; one week prior to her due date, sneak out far enough from any civilization that none of the demonic chakra slips could be detected, even by the best of sensors. During that time, we had retired members of our clan, applied with seals that mimicked their chakra signatures, going about their business as normal, so as to not raise suspicion."

The Hyūga clan head grinned darkly, "We thought we had the perfect plan… No one had any clue outside those who were a part of the operation… or so we thought." His face darkened. "As you can likely guess, today was the day that Kushina finally gave birth. Not moments after giving birth, the secreted party was attacked by a man in a mask." He gained an uneasy look. "We did not see him appear. Even with over twenty seasoned Byakugan users keeping watch, we did not see him until it was too late. He grabbed Kushina and vanished. This masked man's goal is clear, and equally so, he was successful."

The council as a whole was quiet for a short moment, before the Nara head decided to give his input. "This plan of yours can be evaluated later. For now, we need to decide what to do about the rampaging monster on our doorstep. Obviously this masked man is a threat to our village, and he at least has some way to aim the Kyuubi's sights on us, and that is assuming that he can't actually control the beast. Regardless, with all of his efforts so far, we can be sure that he is still hanging around, and will interfere with our efforts. His ability to appear in the midst of a band of Hyuuga trackers undetected is unsettling at best, and that he succeeded in breaking the Jinchuuriki seal shows that he is at the very least a sealing adept with specialized knowledge if not a flat out master."

Minato nodded shortly in agreement to his commander and decided to continue on. "Regardless of this masked man and his threat to us, we do have a more obvious issue that we need to deal with first." He addressed the Hyūga head, "It's been almost proven that only an Uzumaki can survive the sealing of the Kyuubi and its overly potent energy with their absurd life-force… You did not mention the masked man attacking anyone at the birthing. Does this mean that we still have Kushina's child?"

The Hyūga head nodded shortly. "None of the Hyūga guards were attacked by the masked man, however most went after the man to try to stop his un-sealing of the Kyuubi when one of the trackers sighted him within the range of her Byakugan. I assume that they are either dead or otherwise incapacitated; however, Hizashi, my son, did bring little Naruto back to the village with a small group of Hyūga as guards in case the masked man attacked them on their way back. We did have backup plans in case things did not go according to plan, and among them was using Naruto as the next Jinchuuriki… We do not however have the seal we had prepared for this any longer, as it was destroyed in some manner that left not even a chakra residue. We assume this to be the work of the masked man."

Minato cursed freely. This damn masked man was truly becoming a nuisance. However a thought occurred to him, "Wait a moment, why destroy the seal, but not kill the only Uzumaki that said seal could be used on? He had ample chances to do so, if as you said he could get the drop on a Hyūga tracking team… Unless, he wants us to use him as a Jinchuuriki…" Minato's eyes widened for a moment in realization, and then narrowed in anger.

"And it appears that we have little choice else than to do exactly what he wants us to do. Clever bastard." Everyone but Minato, the Hyūga head, and the Inuzuka head turned in surprise to see Jiraiya leaning against the wall behind them. Minato merely nodded to his sensei in agreement, and closed his eyes.

"As Jiraiya-sensei said, we have little choice else… But I'll be damned if I let this manipulative bastard have the last laugh." He looked intently at the Hyūga head. "I need to borrow all of the Uzumaki sealing knowledge related to the Jinchuuriki that you have. I have some of my own from the few times that Kushina taught me some of the Uzumaki style, but not anything that would be much use here."

The Hyūga motioned at his attendant, who came forward with the requested material, gaining a look of surprise from the blonde Kage. The Hyūga head smirked a bit at his expression. "I did say we have contingency plans. One of which was created in the case that the prepared seal failed or was destroyed. Kushina gathered this material together with the intent of helping you create a Jinchuuriki seal unlike any other if the worst scenario came to pass such as it has." He closed his eyes in resignation. "Our final gambit will be for myself and as many of my clan as is required to use a second pre-prepared seal that only Kushina and myself knew about. If you do not have enough time to create the Jinchuuriki seal, then we will give our lives to disperse the beast for at least a few years. It is our duty as part of the cause of this disaster to be absolutely certain that no other pay for our mistake."

While not at all happy with the Hyūga clan's decision to keep such a potential threat hidden, Minato both could respect this decision and not allow them to do so if he had any say in the matter. He again narrowed his eyes and addressed the ANBU, "What is the status of the Initial Response team?"

An ANBU member appeared beside him in a kneeling bow and responded, "Sir, the IR team has bought us enough time by harassing the Kyuubi, if barely, for the Doton specialist team to create a reinforced earth wall to stall the monster's progress towards the village. The wall should withstand its attacks for at least a few minutes; longer if it tries to attack the wall with any chakra blasts as it is a variant of the **Doton: Earth Shore Return** jutsu. As long as the Earth team can sustain it, and not succumb to the beast's vile chakra, it should hold, but I wouldn't rely on it for more than those few minutes, sir."

Minato nodded, glad for whatever time he could get and addressed the council, "I am placing Jiraiya and Shikaku in charge of operations while I attempt to create something to hold the monster in such a way as that the Masked Man cannot make use of it. Treat their orders as if they were my own. I need the Uzumaki, Naruto you said yes? Odd name for a Hyuuga…" he heard the Hyūga head mutter under his breath about stubborn tradition breaking Uzumaki for a moment before he continued. "I need this Naruto to be brought to me quickly so that I can tailor the seal to him."

He motioned Jiraiya and Shikaku over, "I'm trusting you two to lead our forces, not to victory, but to the conclusion with the least sacrifices. By now all of the civilians have been evacuated into the caves, so treat all of Konoha save the mountain as if it is nothing but a strategic location." He looked to Jiraiya, "It may buy us some time if we have every ninja capable of using one to create clones to "populate" the city. In past Biju attacks, granted none were ever the Kyuubi, the Biiju in question seemed to take unholy glee in terrorizing the populace of wherever they attack. I am unsure if this plan will work on the Kyuubi, but if it does it should give us plenty of time to get what is needed done. While usually I would advise against doing so, if we can enrage the Kyuubi even more, it may be more likely to fall for the ruse…"

Minato looked somewhat disturbed for a moment before resolve settled in. "Do not inform any ninja not in on the ruse of the ruse itself. From what I have been told, the Kyuubi can sense emotion, or at least negative emotion. If it starts destroying the city and does not sense any emotional response from the Ninja, it will almost certainly figure out that something is up, so to protect Konoha, we need our Ninja to feel pain."

Jiraiya tilted his head a bit, from a strategic standpoint, it was genius; however, Jiraiya knew that the Minato he knew would hate to do something like this. In Jiraiya's eyes, it just proved to him more that Minato was the perfect man for the Hat. Much like Sarutobi before him, he could and would do whatever it took to protect his people. Jiraiya knew that while he might be able to do that to some degree, he would find it hard to use his loved ones in such a manner. Alas, such is the burden of that heavy, oh so heavy Hat…

Shikaku merely nodded to his Kage and started mentally cataloguing who to bring in to the ruse and who to use as the emotional bait. He ran through the entirety of the Ninja force in less than a minute, there was a reason he was the commander after all, as troublesome as it was.

Minato nodded, mostly to himself, and continued, "Jiraiya, you will organize the force that will be attacking the Kyuubi directly. Shikaku, the ruse itself and its details are entirely up to you. If the ruse fails, join Jiraiya in the attack to buy time until I arrive. I pray that it works though, as many lives will be saved if it does… to your duties." The council of war veterans nodded to their leader and with a short, "Hai, Hokage-sama" they went to their appointed tasks.

With the easy part done, Minato headed towards his sealing room where he could start on the hard part.

There was a reason that seal-masters were so rare outside the Uzumaki, few but those neigh un-killable buggers could survive a seal of that level destabilizing, S-rank nin or not. He gathered his highest quality sealing materials and started leafing through the material that the Hyuuga had provided.

Never before had he hated the Uzumaki as much as he did in that moment. Every last one of them had to be genetically insane. Half of the material was neigh-incomprehensible gibberish where he wasn't entirely sure if they were just the ravings of the insane, were in a language he knew/existed, or if they were just so over his head conceptually that he refused to understand them. That and he half feared that starting at them would drive him as insane as all Uzumaki clearly were, as the longer he looked at them, the more he felt like they were imprinting their meanings directly into his head, so he quickly moved to the half that was legible and more sane.

Unfortunately for him, most of the other half however had to do with high level multi-dimensional sealing theory, theories on time/space mechanics that he barely understood even with his understanding of the Hiraishin, seals that affected the very fabric of reality, and thus had the potential to unravel it and destroy the world, seals where the actual _sealing-script _was partially or wholly in another axis of existence altogether, or seals so stupidly complex that even he wasn't sure if he was looking at them right side up.

The smallest bit was Kushina's mad scribbles in her tiny script that he could only half read. Unfortunately, she was an Uzumaki and therefore insane, so even though her explanations made more sense than the rest of it; they made him feel stupid. They both insulted him for not answering questions that she had asked the reader _in the text_ quickly enough, and they continued to 'dumb down' as they went, taking what he was sure were some of the hardest and most complex theoretical subjects and making them seem as simple and obvious as basic arithmetic that a six year old should be able to understand.

Again, this only proved in his mind his new belief that all Uzumaki are secretly bat-shit insane. Brilliant beyond reason, but completely insane, even the more normal ones like Kushina that are only Jinchuuriki seal-master S-rank ninja.

For a moment, Minato reconsidered the idea of creating another Uzumaki Jinchuuriki. If the blood ran true, could he be creating something that was more a threat to the continued existence of Konoha, if not the world, than the Kyuubi?

Minato shook his head, he was being stupid. Of course he was, but the little Uzumaki could be guided and would not actively be trying to destroy Konoha/the world. Or at least he really hoped not, because he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't succeed if he did try. Hopefully his Hyūga genetics would make him a bit less insane…

There was a knock on the door. He could feel that it was the Hyūga attendant by his chakra signature. What threw him off though was that the attendant was supposed to be bringing the little Uzumaki to him so he could begin the sealing. Regardless of his confusion, Minato answered the door quickly. The attendant looked rushed and quickly handed him a bundle of blankets and took off with not even a word. Minato looked into the bundle and verified that yes, they did contain the Uzumaki, closed the door, and went back to his station.

Minato set the bundle on the sealing table and re-worked the bundle into more of a nest to give the baby some comfort until he needed it out of the way. His eyes glanced over the little Uzumaki's form and he noted absently that while he had indeed inherited the Byakugan, most of his features were strongly Uzumaki. It was too soon to tell for most of his features, but the baby's face seemed to have been an almost clone of Kushina's in structure; same forehead, same lips, same eye structure, same nose. He was even glaring at him with that same look that Kushina would level upon anyone who gained her ire, albeit the pupil-less-ness of his violet eyes and his extremely un-threatening form made it less threatening, and more constipated looking to Minato.

The eyes threw him off for a moment; given most Byakugan were the uniform grey-white color, but they possessed that same penetrating feeling that every Byakugan gave to someone meeting them eye to eye. The Hair was mostly Hyūga black, but he could easily see the Uzumaki red sheen when the light reflected off of it. Perhaps the most identifying mark though was the thin whisker marks on his face, at least of his visible markings.

For a sensor like Minato though, his chakra, or rather the lack of it, was strange. It was like the little Uzumaki was a ghost. Placing his hand on the baby, Minato tried again to sense his chakra and nearly fell over in surprise. While for a moment he had feared that the baby was one of the rare flukes where the child's chakra coils were bound into their muscles and thus unusable for a Jinchuuriki sealing, now that was blatantly not the case. When he had placed his hand on the child he could suddenly sense him as normal, and he could also tell why he couldn't sense him before. If he had thought Kushina had dense chakra when he had felt it before, this child's chakra may as well be called solid. It was in fact so dense, that it didn't allow any of it to escape his body into the air, naturally reproducing the technique that many high level ninja were capable of using to avoid detection by sensor ninja. The idea was simply that if there was no chakra 'scent' then there was nothing for the sensors to track. The downside of the technique was that it was extremely hard, if not impossible to use Jutsu due to the users focus on not projecting any chakra while it was in effect, and that it was difficult to force the body to do it at all, let alone while moving.

Minato could only look at the child in wonder; he had never considered that such a thing could occur naturally. The child had great potential as an assassin, given that he was naturally undetectable. Well, that was assuming that he could make use his chakra at all. Minato doubted the boy would be able to use many of the more subtle Ninjutsu, if any at all, without some insane level of chakra control so that he could 'pinch' some of his chakra away for his use. In return though, he should be completely inexhaustible, even beyond normal Uzumaki standards. With that dense of chakra fueling his body, his expenditure of it for physical feats would be beyond the most perfect efficiency. With the requirement of perfect chakra control to ever really reach his potential, Minato thought the boy must be blessed by Kami to have the Byakugan to help with that.

Thinking of the byakugan, Minato wondered why none of the Hyūga had mentioned anything about the child's chakra. The answer came just as quickly as the question though; the Hyūga did not _sense_ chakra, they _saw_ it. Minato supposed that to them, if anything, that Naruto's chakra coils and tenketsu were merely abnormally defined and easy to pinpoint. The only real oddity to them he supposed would be the lack of chakra 'aura' around Naruto, which given the situation would not really be something anyone could be expected to notice.

Naruto, clearly not amused from the start, was visibly getting angry now. How dare this man expose him to the cold and then stand there huming and hawing like an idiot while stroking his chin! He would show him! No one messes with an Uzumaki!

Some part of Minato's mind had apparently snapped during his short exposure to the Uzumaki. That was really the only plausible explanation, as there was no possible way that little Naruto was capable of the complex thoughts that Minato's mind was associating with the infants facial expressions and body language.

Regardless of Minato's possible developing psychosis, the infant was not happy, and so, attempted to make all those around him not happy as well until the problem was solved. As Minato was the only one around, and they were in a small enclosed, sound-proof safe-room, this did not spell good things for him.

And so, the baby started to cry.

Minato couldn't help but wince at the sound, but he would endure; his people were counting on him.

It was time for the _Kiiroi Senkou_ to get to work.

* * *

**- 37 minutes later** -

Well, it was done. The baby had cried the _entire_ time, causing Minato a headache which quickly upgraded into an eye drilling migraine due to the complexity of his work, but by kami it was done.

Minato glanced at the infant with a cringe. Oh by all that is holy, why did he insist on being alone with the infant? He had no idea how to deal with them anymore! It had been years since he had been near one in the sense of having to take care of one. That was a demeaning job meant for instilling a sense of humility in the little wankers who thought they were big-shots! Not for super high level S-ranks like him!

Once Minato had regained a bit of composure he glanced at his creation. Minato knew he did not have the time to truly create a seal capable of holding the Kyuubi from scratch. Heck, he didn't really have time to _copy_ one from the Uzumaki archives. What he had had time to do however, was create the guidelines for what the seal needed to do. Now he just needed a way to actually use it.

Minato was not arrogant enough to think that he alone could power what he had created. He would die meaninglessly if he tried. Had he managed to actually finish a seal that would contain the beast, then perhaps he could have performed it alone. Unfortunately, or fortunately, what he had actually created was much less complex with a monstrous power requirement, yet it was infinitely more ingenious. Since Minato couldn't create a seal that could contain the Biju within his time limit, he instead had created a seal that would utilize what understanding of reality the Uzumaki's had attained through their mad experiments to force _it_ to create the seal for him. It essentially created a Genjutsu so powerful that it tricked _reality itself_ into believing that the seal he desired existed and that he was using _that_ instead. Had Minato known who his ultimate opponent was and the fact that he made liberal use of a similar concept then he may have found the whole thing extremely ironic.

As much as he wanted to pat himself on the back for his sneaky little monster of a seal, he still had to find a way to power the damn thing.

Simply put, it was impossible. There was no feasible way for Minato to get enough chakra to do it, even if he had finished his sensei's sage mode training, he doubted it would be enough.

The thought of the Sage Mode had brought the frogs to Minato's mind. "I bet Gamabunta would have enough chakra to do it… or at least a body strong enough to channel that much chakra from another source…"

Minato tilted his head. "Now there's an idea… Who says that _I_ have to supply the chakra? I just need to be the one controlling it."

But then that raised the question, what could generate that much power that would agree to help him when for anything less than something with Biju level strength it would be an almost guaranteed death?

Minato's slightly mad mind jumped right onto the last bit of that thought. "Death… What is more infinite or powerful than Death?"

His eyes widened, and he scrambled for the Uzumaki scrolls. "I know I saw something involving the Shinigami in here…" Hearing an extremely loud roar that rattled the room and _feeling_ a large explosion, Minato started to scroll through the text at an even more frantic pace.

"**Instant Death Double Suicide** **Technique**? No. **Self-immolating Mass Murder**? Nope. **Hungry Soul, Eternal Mutilation Technique**? Maybe? _Warning: this technique mutilates the user's soul into an unthinking monster that only lives to devour the soul of the first thing it lays its eyes on_ Uh, wow. _Hell No!_ Seriously, who the hell would use that? But, I'm starting to notice a theme here… Guess I'm technically suicidal now too. Lovely." Minato said completely deadpan.

Minato kept blazing through techniques that became even more repulsive, more destructive, and in some cases utterly humiliating for all involved while retaining the first two qualities; if that was even possible. He persevered though until he came to what he was looking for.

"_**Dead Demon Consuming Seal**. _Well, if that doesn't sound appropriate then nothing does."

Minato read over its effects and requirements. While the cost was steep, this was exactly what he wanted when it came to the effects. Minato doubted his soul was worth the soul of a Biju, but if he could write the contract of the summoning in such a way that the Shinigami merely had to power his seal in return for his soul…

Reading over the seal itself, Minato couldn't help but revise his earlier belief when it comes to the Uzumaki. He now knew for certain now that not only are they insane and brilliant, but they are also vengeful beyond compare. Minato could think of no other explanation for why they would intentionally create a seal that locks them in combat with an enemy for eternity, especially after reading about all of the other kami damned seals they had already created.

Disregarding his growing fear of all things Uzumaki, Minato could work with this…

* * *

**- 16 Minutes Later** -

Minato knew now, even though he had managed the impossible, his chances of surviving this day were zero. Nothing he could do could get the contract to summon the Shinigami to work without the loss of summoner's soul, which equaled death. This Minato could accept though, and it was his burden alone.

Firstly, while another could summon the Shinigami for him, and he knew others would indeed do so to let him live; how could he ask another to do what he himself would not? More importantly however, was the requirement that only he knew how his seal worked, and he refused to ever risk this seal falling into the wrong hands. He would do what he honestly thought the Nidaime should have done with the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection and let it die with him. Let everyone think he had actually managed to create the seal that would seal the demon, but he could not let the knowledge of this seal get loose.

Minato picked up Naruto and started to make his way out of the tower but stopped. As an afterthought, knowing of his impending demise, Minato left two notes to his successor on his desk. The first explained what he wanted done in regards to both Naruto and the village. The second was an order to never let Naruto near the Uzumaki archive unless the world was ending, because it very well could shortly after he got access to it.

Satisfied in the knowledge that he had just saved the world, and would shortly save his village, the _Kiiroi Senkou_ finally made his way to the battlefield. It was time to end this.

* * *

**- Streets of Konoha** -

As Minato left the tower, he was actually somewhat surprised at the level of destruction that he could see.

As high as he was, traveling along the rooftops, he could see that a good quarter of Konoha had been leveled. Not destroyed, simply leveled. Where once had been neighborhoods, training grounds, places of business, large tracts of woodlands, and Jiraiya's personal favorite, Bath-houses; nothing now remained. There weren't even ruins left behind, simply charred earth.

There was also a shallow, yet total line of destruction that cut completely through the village, making it seem as if a giant had pulled a plow straight through it.

All of this was of course an afterthought barely worth even a fraction of a second of his notice in comparison to the beast that had caused it all.

Minato could see, much to his total relief, that their ruse had indeed worked. Minato had never been more thankful for the mercy of whatever powers that be than he was in the moments that he watched the dreaded beast tear into his civilians, swallowing them whole and eviscerating even more; while more importantly mostly ignoring his ninja.

Although it had never crossed any of their minds, the reason that the ruse had worked as well as it had was mostly due to the fact that the Kyuubi was entirely made of chakra. It couldn't tell much difference between the chakra of a clone it devoured and that of an actual human, only that it had indeed devoured something with chakra.

That many his ninja were obviously in a state of enraged grief only solidified the success of the ruse. As much as it hurt Minato, he knew now that it was indeed worth it.

As he rushed towards the beast however, fully intending to finish this, he finally came face to fist with the one behind it all.

As fast as he had been moving, Minato's nose had been cleanly broken, and had he not angled himself differently at the last moment, he knew he would be dead with pieces of cartilage embedded in his brain.

Quickly snapping his nose roughly back into place, Minato started trying to get some sort of read on his attacker.

He was, indeed a masked man; much as the Hyūga has reported. While it was a worrisome afterthought, he could easily see why the Hyūga had such an issue detecting him; the man had no chakra signature at all, much like Naruto. That combined with the speed of either himself or whatever technique he had used to appear as he had was absolutely a lethal combination. Minato could tell that either the man could teleport, or that he was actually faster than he himself after that attempt to end the fight before it started.

"Well, I must hand it to the _Kiiroi Senkou_." The man trailed off, apparently unbothered by his failed attack.

Minato's eyes narrowed as he continued, "But I wonder about this next one."

As he heard a noise all ninja dread, Minato reacted instantly and instinctively; the blanket covered in explosive tags was all that was left behind as he vanished completely.

* * *

**- Safehouse** -

Minato palmed his face in annoyance. His reactionary **Hiraishin** had been entirely without conscious thought, but he was glad that he had at least brought Naruto with him.

His closest tag had been here, huh? He could use this. Clearly the Masked Man would continue to interfere until Minato took care of him. He had thought that perhaps the Man's motive was to move the Kyuubi to a new container without cost to himself, and while that was still on the table, he clearly had other goals.

One was clearly the destruction of Konoha.

Unfortunately his Ninja would have to wait, for as long as that man was still here he would not get the opportunity to end this travesty.

He looked down at Naruto and smiled sadly. "Sorry, Naruto." He closed his eyes and went on, knowing that the baby couldn't understand him in the slightest. "This must officially be the worst birthday ever… and I have to be the one with the most lousy present…"

Minato grinned wryly, "But you know what?"

By some random chance, Naruto chose this moment to open his eyes and stare at him, almost as if asking 'what?'

Minato bemoaned his obvious newly developed psychosis; placing all of these understandings on a newborn, but continued anyway, since at least Naruto had stopped crying.

Minato closed his eyes and smiled at the infant, "This might be the worst birthday ever, but I'll do whatever I can to make certain that it is not your last… that it's not the last for all of us; and that on your future birthdays, you will be surrounded by your friends and family… That you will _have_ friends and family to do so..."

Minato trailed off as Naruto smiled back at the funny man and smirked a bit himself. While Minato had never had a family of his own, in that moment, he fully understood what old Sarutobi had meant when he talked about the "Will of Fire"

Minato's eyes hardened and he started to walk away, "I'll be back soon, and then we will finally end this nightmare of a birthday of yours, Naruto."

With that declaration, the kind Kage disappeared; and for the first time since the end of the great ninja war, the true _Kiiroi Senkou_ had made an appearance. "Yes, I'll make sure to end this for everyone…"

The true battle for the leaf would now begin.

* * *

Chapter End.

* * *

AN: Wowie, that was a lot more fun to write and lasted a Lot longer than I expected it to. I fully expected to wrap up the whole Sealing bit in one chapter, but good news everyone!

Boss Fight Incoming!

I hope you guys enjoy it, because it's going to be the last of the real combat for a good long while as unfortunately for you guys, I do not prescribe to Professional Child Pwnge Illustrated like so many do on this site in this fandom.

This chapter was a good 3k words longer, but my beta yelled at me for the content of those 3k hurting his head and being generally confusing as heck. To sum up where that was and what it was, it was a much more involved exploration of the creation of a seal, reality, dimensions, and the relationship of the mind-body-soul. Basically a lot of what I had 'joked' about being in the Uzumaki's scrolls when Minato first read them. Yeah… Dunno where that came from but after I read it I was like, "Wow. The HELL did that come from and How did it slip my weird shit radar while writing it?" That stuff really is what I picture to be in there, but for the sake of trying to Not shatter any concepts of reality, I'll hold onto that stuff later… Like way later. Like when Naruto gets the scrolls later. It will eventually happen, and I really hope it will turn out to be epic.

For anyone who wants to tell me that this was not at all necessary, well, you are totally right. I did not have to write out the sealing if it is going to be generally the same, except Naruto has a different father. Hint: It won't be.

For everyone else, glad you came for a read!

Important Bit:

I do not have chapters saved up, so I won't be pumping them out at any steady rate, just as fast as the inspiration strikes, but I fully expect the next chapter to be out quickly as long as I am satisfied with the combat. I am my worst critic though, so hopefully it gets up to par quickly enough. It does not help that I've never written combat before, so it might be a little wordy and description heavy. Sorry if you don't like that! It's sort of how I write stories, but hopefully that's a good thing or I'll learn to manage it.


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